| dc.description.abstract | The study sort to establish the factors that influence pupils' participation in primary education in Nyandarua west district. The justification of the study was based on the evidence that drop outs from public primary schools in the district are on the increase where those who enroll in stdl reduce in numbers as they progress towards the completion of the primary cycle. The study was guided by four objectives namely; parents' level of education, parents' income levels, educational resources and lastly educational opportunities. The study utilized a descriptive survey design which enabled the researcher to gather data, summarize and interpret it, and sort more intelligent plans for improving participation rates in primary education in Nyandarua west district. The sample consisted of 16 head teachers, 64 teachers, 4 parents and 128 pupils.
Stratified random sampling was used to pick the schools from the six existing sub zones in the district. From each of the sampled schools, simple random sampling was used to sample the teachers, parents and pupils. The head teacher of the sampled school also formed the sample. In order to validate the instruments, pilot study was done on 3 randomly selected schools which were not involved the sample. The instruments were also found to be reliable as the produce a value of 0.75 using the Pearson's product moment correlation coefficient (r). Four sets of questionnaires were used, one for head teachers, teachers, parents and for pupils.
The data got was analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS). The results were quantified using frequencies and interpreted using percent tables and pie charts. Research findings obtained revealed that the majority of the parents (69%) had primary level education and below with 20% of them not completing their primary level of education. Parents were also found to have low income with 70% of them earning Ksh3000 and below per month.
This was also found to impact negatively on participation in primary education. Educational resources found in the schools were noted to be inadequate. The number of desks, text books and classes require attention. Of great concern was the teacher shortage the study revealed. About 11 % of the teachers were found to be teaching the maximum number of lessons (40) in a week. On the other hand, the number of schools in the district was noted to be inadequate. Over half of the pupils walk for more than Skm every morning to school. It was therefore' recommended that the government should increase the funding to schools, employ more teachers, build more schools and ensure modalities are put in place to sensitize parents on the need of educating their children to improve school participation. | en_US |
